The little critters you can find in hedges

I promised my Dad I’d post this pictures and I’d forgotten up until now so here they are.

One of the advantages of living in a fairly rural location is the wildlife. Not so good when you have foxes barking in the middle of the night or badgers digging in the lawn for food, but there’s a plethora of wildlife that we sometimes don’t see. These two little creepy crawlies had seemingly been woken up after a sharp rain shower. I suspect that the newt….I think it’s a newt…was taking advantage of the damp grass to scuttle off to a new pond or stream, bless him. Quite a cute little thing.

Leave me alone to find my pond!!

The spider caught my eye from the markings once I got it in focus. If anyone know what it is, please feel free to comment. All I was glad of is the fact it didn’t maker me run around after it or jump on the lens. Whilst I love to look at things like this, I’d rather not have them wandering all over me!

A very patient (insert name here) spider. Lovely markings.

By the way, new camera coming soon… a Nikon D3100, so any hints tips or constructive criticism from those images is more than welcome. I’ll let you know when I post them.

I return, with moving water again

Hello again, I’m back from hols so there should be a regular post (of sorts) appearing here from now on unless stated otherwise.

A quick picture from before my holiday when I went for a quick exploration of a small river near Fishguard, in a place called Wolf’s Castle. Annoyingly, I tramped a good mile or so through woods that made my knees ache only to see, when I arrived, that there was a path that lead to the main road! There was even a blooming lay-by I could have parked in. Oh well, it was good exercise.

A small but very noisy waterfall, near Wolf's Castle

I’m sure the story is complicated and lost in the mists of time but just to let you know, there’s no castle at all and there are no wolves there. It’s actually a very rocky area with a large prominent outcrop of the local hard “blue stone” which is used for rock-climbing practice during the Summer months.

Talking of Summer, we are now into BST and I celebrated by doing what all red-blooded men with a sporty hatch-back such as myself should. I washed the car. Mmmm, shiny. I can actually see the original colour now.

By the way if anyone is reading this on 26.03.12 and it’s around sunset, take a look out to the West, there’s another conjunction similar to my previous post out there. Enjoy…and don’t say I never give you anything!

Now that I’ve calmed down….

Apologies for my overlong rant about “that lady” earlier this week, I have calmed down now, although I see at least 3 people agree with me. Thanks.

Now that I’ve been expelled from areas like that :), I turned my attention of late to a planetary phenomena, namely the conjunction of Venus and Jupiter. Not too many clear skies recently, but I did catch one as you can see below. For a few more pictures, please visit http://spaceweather.com/ too, the gallery should still be up for a while.

Planetary conjunction of Venus and Jupiter over Milford Haven refinery

This was taken along from my girlfriend’s flat, just on the waterfront and you can also clearly see the “Belt of Venus” I have previously referred to with traces of a past pink sunset. If some of you click on it to see the full size picture (actually, you’ll probably have to as the thumbnail is larger than I planned) you’ll see that it’s not perfect due to mist, but I’m quite proud of it really and only wanted to remove the camera noise as opposed to enhance it beyond what I actually saw. So, I hope you appreciate it.

I’m around but not near the PC until 27th March now, so there will be a period of inactivity for a bit, sorry about that. Best wishes until then and be safe in the knowledge that there are some nice pictures in store for you from my recently downloaded card.

Warning! Common sense is going to the dogs!

I was going to be posting some images here of some critters that I had found in hedges recently as discussed with my Dad, but events have overtaken me and I really want a good rant. This is long and scathing, but there is nice picture at the end as a reward 🙂

All I can do here is post this as a darn good warning to all hobby photographers who fancy differing their portfolio once in a while; if you do want to do this, don’t go to a fair. All it takes is one grumpy old woman (I really hope she is reading this) to get you a talking to by the local police.

There’s me, bored of TV and thought, seeing the fair is in, I’ll go do some light trails on the rides. After all, I know what rides are there as, now this is very important to remember…I DID THIS EXACT SAME PROJECT LAST YEAR TO A NUMBER OF POSITIVE COMMENTS. Off I trot, couple of snaps, no real results so I move around the side of ride, but still nothing to speak of. Before long, as I sit on the wall, some old grump pipes up asking me what I’m up to, to which I replied I was  here last year, so it’s okay to snap timelapse as far as I was aware and no signs to say I couldn’t. I continued to sit to then be greeted by the fair manager saying he’d had a complaint (from the lady’s husband, which figures) and I should leave. In his defence, he was very apologetic saying he “didn’t want to come over, he just wanted a quiet life” and “some people have sad lives to bring this kind of thing up” so we parted on good terms, shaking hands. I grudgingly got up to go, although my kit was out in the open, not in a bag and who turns up, the local police in a (very nice) marked Land Rover Discovery. Super. Over I walk…

Anyway, it all boiled down to one thing. Children. I knew what she was inferring and I’m not saying it, lest WordPress block me. The police were also very patient as I tried to get a point over and glad I showed them the LCD screen, although I felt guilty for diverting their attention away from real crime that occurs every minute of every day right under our noses. If only that lady realised some of the issues locally, she’d never leave her house, let alone go to a fair.

So, I shan’t often aim posts at specific people, but this one’s for you, grumpy presumptive old woman. Did you stick around? Nope. Did you ask to look at the camera or even ask for me to delete a file? No, that would have taken manners or guts in facing up to me. I’m surprised you didn’t also say I didn’t understand as I don’t have children. It doesn’t take a parent to understand child protection, please remember that. I have nephews, friends with children, neighbours with children, children visit my work, I shop around children, children have ridden in my car on occasion. They’re all over! Don’t patronise me.

Anyway, here’s the kicker. The image below shows what I was trying to perfect amongst other light shows. However, this is last years image as I didn’t get any decent ones due to this debacle. So, now I’ll stick to other places, not because I feel as I have been told off but because I know now for sure there is at least one person sad enough to presume a man with a camera always has an ulterior motive, wherever he may be. So if you see me taking time-lapse at the side of a road soon (which I do), be very afraid…..according to this lady I could be cloning your number plate next!

If anyone can spot a person, please post a comment and I'll gladly fuzz them out

An Autumnal wander

Not so far from where I live, walking distance in fact, is the teeny hamlet of Port Lion. On the way down is a gate which has always been a teeny bit inviting for a walk, but I was discouraged by the signs that said the local gamekeepers shot pests and if you got in the way, so what. However, not hearing said warfare on such animals, I figured the risk was worth taking.

A lovely track, used by four wheel drives (but not for some time) and at the time I took it, the leaves were turning creating some lovely shades in the trees.

Colours in the trees and leaves near Port Lion

On my way home, after being set upon by local dog walkers as some kind of freak of nature because “only dog walkers use this track and I’m happy to let my snarling beast off it’s lead and bowl you over”, it started to rain. Then stop, then get windy, then stop. Pretty annoying, until I got home and this lovely cloudscape appeared…I think bad weather makes the best photos, don’t you?

Autumn squall over Pembrokeshire

The Pembrokeshire Coast National Park

You can’t really visit Pembrokeshire, should anyone wish to visit, without being aware of the national Park and the trails that criss-cross it. Most of the pictures you’ll see on here will be ones that I have taken through my wanderings on it, so there’s no way to avoid it!

West Angle Bay, just at the entrance to Milford Haven and the deep water port

When the weather allows (as Winters here are wet, windy, cold and manky in the main) my beloved and I like to go for a tramp up around the beaches. I have occasionally dipped a toe in and even swum on a number of occasions, the last was was at tad late in the season and I ended up first going numb, then bright red. Quite a sight I assure you, I can still remember Sam’s face as she helped me dry off, as well as the fact I couldn’t really feel the towel! Brrrrr…

Just over the hill from Newgale, my favourite beach

However, I digress. When the sun is out, the beaches here are the best, much nicer than the horrid stoney Brighton or Newhaven beach I used to live near in Sussex. So, if you fancy a walk along the Coast Path and it gets too hot, feel free to use the gifts of coastal erosion and have a dip.

Should you wish to see maps and so on, please visit http://www.pembrokeshirecoast.org.uk/default.asp?PID=4